Letters to the Editor, June 2012

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Canoe Theft

For the fourth time in a few years people have come to our property at Beaver Creek Reservoir to steal one of our canoes. An expensive power outlet was also destroyed. The outlet was installed for the Western Albemarle Rowing Team several years ago when the team used the land to get access to the lake.

It makes us sad that our wonderful community gets affected by people who have no respect for other’s property by stealing, destroying and dumping their beer cans.

 

Paulien & Gérard Brikkenaar van Dijk
Crozet

 

Crozet Historic District

The Crozet Historic District will enable property owners in it to be eligible for state and federal tax credits for renovations to their properties. The credit is meant to encourage owners to save their older buildings. The district promotes the prosperity of the older village of Crozet and imposes no conditions on any property owner.

The Crozet Community Association and the Downtown Crozet Association are making a joint appeal to the future property owners in the district, trying to raise $4,000 to see that the final application documents of the district are submitted and then ratified by state and federal officials. A valuable inventory of the historic district properties will fall out of date this year and much expensive work would have to be repeated to make a later application. Now is the time to make the district happen.

To the owners of these parcels, I make this challenge: If 25 owners of parcels in the future historic district donate at least $25 to the fund, I will donate $250. If 50 owners of parcels in the future historic district donate at least $25 to the fund, I will donate $500.

Donations from anyone wishing to support this cause are welcome. Send contributions to the Crozet Community Association, P.O. Box 653, Crozet, Va., 22932. Please put “Historic District” in the memo line of your check.

Thank you.

Ann Mallek
White Hall District Supervisor
434-996-6159

 

I Feel Cheated

For the past several years, I have paid about $60 to join the Crozet PARC pool for the summer. This was the senior price for single adults over 60. I was a big supporter of the campaign to build a dome over the pool to enable year-round swimming. I attended fund-raisers, bid at silent auctions, and donated in the hundreds.

Imagine my dismay when I attended the May 5 open house to discover that the PARC project has been taken over by the YMCA, and the price of swimming has doubled or tripled! I have to join an “athletic club” in which I have no interest, subscribe to classes that I may or may not like, and pay the full adult price of $45/month until I am 65, all in order to swim at the pool I helped to improve! When I asked the YMCA representative why the “pool only” membership (which is not even available during the winter months) actually costs more than the regular monthly rate, she confirmed that “we are trying to encourage year-round monthly membership.” While the Y may claim to be a non-profit, this is essentially the same monthly rate as the for-profit ACAC.

The clear solution is to offer a reduced-priced, year-round, pool-only membership, and perhaps a discount and waiver of the steep “joining fee” for those of us who donated generously to make the dome project a reality. We just wanted an affordable year-round pool, but we got way more than we bargained for.

Clover Carroll
Crozet

 

House of Hope

We at House of Hope Central Virginia would like to thank all the community, volunteers, and businesses that donated to our first annual House of Hope Benefit.The event was a huge success, raising over $4000 to start a home for healing teens in the local area. The main purpose for the rally was to begin to raise funds for land to build on. We have a verbal commitment from Lowe’s and Habitat for Humanity to help us build once we secure the land.

The need for this home is critical. We already have many young people on our waiting list with issues ranging from abuse, to drug and alcohol addiction, cutting, and learning disabilities. This home will give them a safe environment to heal and receive counseling along with their parents, healing the whole family.

In particular we would like to thank the following individuals and businesses for donating to our silent auction: Wintergreen Resort; Massanutten Resort; Holiday Inn University Area; Montpelier; Applebees Pantops; Shenandoah Caverns; Monticello; Mary Lou Troutman; Free Bridge Auto; Lake Monticello Golf; Ben & Jerry’s Charlottesville; Charlottesville postal Federal Credit Union; Woodforest Bank; Albemarle Ciderworks; Benessere Spa Services; Bark Avenue-Pet Grooming; Tammy Bradley; Blue Ridge Builders; Bangkok ’99; Clover Lawn Salon; Green House Coffee; Couture Design; Crozet Eye Care; Ivy Commons Chiropractic; Modern Barbershop; Sal’s Pizza; Ivy Corner Garden Center; Crozet Beauty Salon; Secrets of the Blue Ridge (Phil James); Hair Cuttery; Critzer Family Farm; Fisher Auto Parts (Crozet); Crozet Hardware; Harris Teeter (Crozet); Sharp Shopper; Dairy Queen; Robert and Marjorie Canady; Dean and Clythene Selzer; Dorothy Lilley; Ruby Dillow Avon; Fisher Auto Parts (Charlottesville); Sarah Canady Shultz; Robin Cole; David Ashcom Heating and Cooling, LLC; Salon E; Milmont Nursery; The Center for Family Counseling; Virginia Townsend-Gray Hawk Designs; Arch’s Frozen Yogurt; Adam Sylvester Lawn Care; Minda’s Boutique; Donna Canady; St. Peter’s Attic; Richey and Co. Shoes; Lorenzo Ramirez; Heidi Davis; Scott and Becky Selzer; Wild Earth Encounters; and Bounce Around Amusements.

We would also like to thank the bands Sanctified Power, Refuge Band and Full Surrender for donating their time and talents for this event. It’s great to be part of a community that cares enough to help hurting teens!

Blessings!

Brenda Miller
Crozet